Tears for Fears are an English pop rock duo formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.

Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesizer bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into mainstream rock and pop, which led to international chart success.

The band has sold more than 22 million albums worldwide (including over 8 million in the United States alone).

Orzabal and Smith met as teenagers in their home city of Bath, Somerset. The duo became session musicians for the band Neon, where they first met future Tears For Fears drummer Manny Elias. Neon also featured Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher who went on to become Naked Eyes. Smith and Orzabal's professional debut came with the band Graduate, a Mod Revival/New Wave act. In 1980, Graduate released an album, Acting My Age, and a single "Elvis Should Play Ska" (referring to Elvis Costello, not Presley). The single just missed the Top 100 in the UK, though it performed well in Spain and in Switzerland.

By 1981, Orzabal and Smith were becoming more influenced by artists such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. They departed from Graduate and formed a band called History of Headaches, a moniker which was then changed to Tears for Fears. The plan was for Orzabal and Smith to form the nucleus of the group and bring in surrounding musicians to help them complete the picture.

The band's name was inspired by Primal Therapy, developed by the American psychologist Arthur Janov, which gained tremendous publicity after John Lennon became Janov's patient in 1970. In a 2004 interview with VH1 UK, Orzabal and Smith said that when they finally met Janov in the mid-80s, they were disillusioned to find that he had become quite "Hollywood" and wanted the band to write a musical.

Tears for Fears were signed to Phonogram Records, UK in 1981 by A&R manager Dave Bates. Their first single as Tears for Fears, "Suffer the Children" (produced by David Lord), was released on that label in November 1981, followed by the first edition of "Pale Shelter" (produced by Mike Howlett) in March 1982.